8 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Founder</strong> | Thursday 15 January 2009 College Information College celebrates success at Volunteering Awards Royal <strong>Holloway</strong>’s Community Action volunteering programme recently celebrated its second year <strong>of</strong> success at the prestigious Higher Education Volunteering Awards (HEVA) held at Manchester United Football Club’s Old Trafford stadium. Robin Green won an award for his work in developing a scheme where <strong>student</strong>s teach basic IT skills to young refugees and asylum seekers at Hillingdon Social Services. <strong>The</strong> participants not only learnt new, highly valuable, skills but were also awarded certificates for completed modules. Matthew Goldup was also among the 25 finalists, chosen from over 750 nominations from universities across the country. Matthew worked as an ambassador for the Royal Geography Society at Oxfam in Egham and also provided English language tuition for refugees and asylum seekers. ‘It is a great honour to receive this award’, said Robin. ‘It is the culmination <strong>of</strong> a lot <strong>of</strong> great team work as well as the efforts <strong>of</strong> committed <strong>student</strong> volunteers who were invaluable in making the project a success. I am very glad that this project has been recognised by such a prestigious award’. Under the leadership <strong>of</strong> Phil Simcock, Volunteer Co-ordinator at the College, over 750 <strong>student</strong>s have registered as volunteers and many local projects have benefitted. <strong>The</strong> Community Action Team has actively sought to gain recognition for its <strong>student</strong> volunteers and succeeded in achieving Student Volunteering England Gold Award status for Robin and Matthew earlier in the year. “<strong>The</strong> College’s volunteering team has grown in strength from year to year and I am hugely encouraged by the high calibre and enthusiasm <strong>of</strong> the current volunteers”, says Phil. Royal <strong>Holloway</strong> in top 20 with world-leading research across all three faculties <strong>The</strong> results <strong>of</strong> the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE 2008), announced on 18 December, confirm Royal <strong>Holloway</strong>’s position among the top research-led university institutions in the UK, with outstanding areas in all three faculties <strong>of</strong> Arts, History and Social Sciences and Science. <strong>The</strong> Principal, Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Stephen Hill, said, “<strong>The</strong> results <strong>of</strong> the RAE 2008 demonstrate that Royal <strong>Holloway</strong> remains one <strong>of</strong> the UK’s leading research universities. <strong>The</strong> College is ranked 16th in terms <strong>of</strong> research <strong>of</strong> 4* standard. Royal <strong>Holloway</strong> has a broad range <strong>of</strong> excellent researchers and departments and I was particularly pleased to see that we have the highest rated department in Music in the whole <strong>of</strong> the UK. Our results are testament both to the hard work and dedication <strong>of</strong> our staff and the investment that we have made over the past seven years.” <strong>The</strong> primary purpose <strong>of</strong> the RAE 2008 is to measure the quality <strong>of</strong> research activity at 159 UK universities and colleges. <strong>The</strong> results will be used by the four UK funding bodies to determine the allocation <strong>of</strong> £1.5 billion for research annually from 2009. <strong>The</strong> new scoring system that applies for the RAE 2008 measures research quality in four categories, with the top score <strong>of</strong> 4* indicating quality that is world-leading and <strong>of</strong> the highest standards in terms <strong>of</strong> originality, significance and rigour. In the RAE 2008, 60% <strong>of</strong> research pr<strong>of</strong>ile at the College is rated as world-leading or internationally excellent – outperforming the national average <strong>of</strong> 50%. Music (Faculty <strong>of</strong> Arts), which has been consistently awarded the highest research rating in all previous RAEs, has now been acclaimed the UK’s top Department. Biological Sciences (Faculty <strong>of</strong> Science) and Economics (Faculty <strong>of</strong> History & Social Sciences) were likewise among the highest rated in the country, ranked joint 3rd and joint 9th respectively. With reference to Royal <strong>Holloway</strong>’s ongoing collaborations with partners including the SWAN alliance and the proposed merger with St George’s, University <strong>of</strong> London, Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Stephen Hill, added, “<strong>The</strong> strong results in the Schools <strong>of</strong> Biological Sciences and Management and Departments <strong>of</strong> Psychology and Health and Social Care provide an excellent basis for our merger with St George’s, University <strong>of</strong> London.” Sexual Health Following ‘Shag Week’, I have been invited to provide some advice on sensible sexual health precautions and explain a little about what services we provide at the University Health Centre. I am sure you have heard this all before, but I cannot stress enough how important the use <strong>of</strong> condoms is in the prevention <strong>of</strong> all sexually transmitted illnesses. I would suggest that even if you are taking the pill, you only ever consider abandoning barrier methods <strong>of</strong> contraception when you and your partner have been screened at a sexual health clinic. Putting it simply, if you have had unprotected sex with anyone before you are potentially putting your present partner at risk. Condoms protect against HIV, syphilis, gonorrhoea and the well known STIs, while they are also very effective against the much more common Chlamydia. If you are concerned that you may have contracted an STI or want to discuss any aspect <strong>of</strong> your sexual health or contraception, please feel free to come along to the Health Centre to do so. Dr Gero Baiarda MB BS DPD MSc Lead GP Royal <strong>Holloway</strong>, University <strong>of</strong> London Health Centre
Twilight E X T R A Thursday 15 January 2009 Realism vs Romanticism thefounder Sherlock Holmes 10///Futureworld Cinema 11///Australia 13///Murakani 16///
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